Simplified Retirement Investing

Goal: 

• Invest X Amount of Dollars per year

  • • • •  Common goal:  $7500 a year (which is $625 a month that you invest regularly.) That gives you about $2500 to $4,333 a month when you retire. 

    • Don't say you don't have the money when I see you all walking around here in the nicest clothes, taking trips, and out at bars and restaurants. 

      • 1st You have to put yourself on a Budget. 

      • 2nd There are so many side businesses you can start. 

        • Sell Plates of Food, Buy a bedazzling kit and sell designs and accessories, Resale (buy low, sale high), Yard Sell, Sell on Offer Up or Facebook Marketplace, Babysit, Dog Sit

• Invest in any of all of these stocks (VOO or VTI or VFIAX or SPY)

  • • 1. Open a stock brokerage account (Just pick 1 for now. Later on you can do more research to optimize your investing, but I really just want you to get started).

      • • Charles Schwab

        • Robinhood

        • Fidelity

        • Vanguard

        • Your bank may also have a brokerage account that makes it easier for you to transfer money to: For example. Bank of America has Bank of America Merrill Edge brokerage account

    • 2. Transfer money into that stock brokerage account

      • • If you can, set up monthly auto-transfers. 

    • 3. Buy Any of These stocks

      • • To make it more complex, you can research which one to do. I started with SPY because I heard someone say do that one. But it's expense ratio is higher, and I wanted a lower expense ratio.  So now I prefer VOO as good beginner stocks for passive long term investing because it has slightly higher average returns in comparison to VTI

        • This is why I like these:

          • Stock Ticker, Reason I like it, Expense Ratio, Investing Goal, 10 year Average Return

          • VOO -- Good for passive Long term investing - 0.03%  - Investing Goal: Passive Long term - 10% - 11%

          • VTI -- Good for beginner, more diversified aka slightly less risk - 0.03% - Investing Goal: Passive Long term, FIRE movement - 9% - 10%

          • VFIAX - Good for simple S&P exposure - 0.4% - - Investing Goal: Retirement, Auto-investing - 10% - 11%

          • SPY - Good for of you want to trade actively - 0.09%  - Investing Goal: Active Trading - 10% - 11%

• Do not sell those stocks or withdraw that money for any reason. Don't touch it, just let it grow. 

  • • If you withdraw the money now, you won't have it in the future. Retirement you will be very unhappy with that decision. 

    • You know how you go to the carryout or get fast food every day. Say you spend $20 a day for 30 days. That's $600 a month. When you need that money, you can't go to the fast food restaurant and ask for your money back. Pretend its like that. Once you put that money in your stock brokerage account and buy those stocks, don't touch it. Pretent liks its not there. It's not your money. That money belongs to Retirement Age you who can't work anymore. 

• After 30 years, it will grow exponentially. 

• Now you can withdraw 4% of how much it has grown every year during retirement. Realistically, that gives you about 25 years of retirement. 

• Invest more upfront so you can live off of more when you retire. 

Pick How Much you want to Invest Each Month. 

Or you can invest a large lump sum at anytime. (e.g. tax return season, Christmas or birthday money, etc.)

I asked CHAT AI to do the following: Create a table that shows if I invest $1200, $2400, $4800, $6,000, $7500, and $12000 a year in the VOO or VTI or VFIAX or SPY, based on a 7% - 10% average annual return, how much will I have in 15 years and 30 years.

Summary

• If you invest $7500 a year in the stock market ticker symbols (VOO or VTI or VFIAX or SPY) for 30 years, assuming an average annual return of 7% to 10%, You will have $750,000 to $1.3 million at retirement. Keep in mind, that you only invested ($7,500 x 30 years = ) $225,000 during that time frame. 

  • • At retirement, you will withdraw 0.04 or 4% of this money every year. This is based on he Rule of 25 which is directly based on the 4% rule. 

      • So if its $750,000, then multiply that by 0.04 and that gives you $30,000 a year or $2,500 a month to live off of.

      • If its $1,300,000 then 4% of that is $52,000 a year or $4,333 a month to live off of during retirement